Peter's Denial (John 18:15-27)

John chapter 18, starting in verse 15.

John 18 · chapter mention

Simon Peter was following Jesus, as was another disciple.

That disciple was an acquaintance of the high priest.

So he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard.

But Peter remained standing outside by the door.

So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the girl who was the doorkeeper and brought Peter in.

Then the servant girl, who was the doorkeeper, said to Peter, You aren't one of this man's disciples, too, are you?

I am not, he said.

Now the servants and the officials had made a charcoal fire because it was cold.

They were standing there warming themselves, and Peter was standing with them, warming himself.

The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.

I have spoken openly to the world, Jesus answered him.

I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews gathered, and I haven't spoken anything in secret.

Why do you question me?

Question those who heard what I told them.

Look, they know what I said.

When he had said these things, one of the officials standing by slapped Jesus, saying, Is this the way you answer the high priest?

If I have spoken wrongly, Jesus answered him, give evidence about the wrong.

But if rightly, why do you hit me?

Then Anna sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself.

They said to him, You aren't one of his disciples, too, are you?

He denied it and said, I am not.

One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, Didn't I see you with him in the garden?

Peter denied it again.

Immediately a rooster crowed.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for this particular passage that you have specifically for us this morning.

God, I pray that we would approach your word with an openness to what you have for us, realizing that we have a long way to go before we become like Jesus.

But Lord, we thank you for the progress so far, and we pray that it would continue here this morning.

So we pray that you would have your will and your perfect way in our hearts, and that you would open our eyes and our hearts to the things that you want to do in us as a church, as a whole, but in us as individuals as well, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.

You may be seated.

So before we jump into this text, I want to first address this passage as a whole.

And I realize it's kind of ambitious doing this, but this passage here has been a topic of debate for centuries.

And I don't think we're gonna find the answers here this morning, but I want to just explain a little bit of what's going on.

There's been a debate among scholars whether Jesus had five trials or six trials throughout this course of uh of being arrested and going to the cross.

And each gospel account focuses on different parts of Jesus' trials that he went through.

But when you string them all together chronologically, um you get Jesus going first to Annas and then to Caiaphas and then to the Sanhedrin, then to Pilate, then to Herod, and then back to Pilate again.

So we know that there were six stops along the way for Jesus.

Those that see five, they combine Anis and Caiaphas together, looking at that really as one trial.

And that's largely because of what we see here in our passage in John and particularly how it's laid out.

Now, remember, we've been pointing out since I think it was the first day that we started teaching John, that John did not write for the sake of chronological order.

And I want to encourage you for the next two minutes to just hang in there with me.

Okay, I know it's a time change morning, but hang in there with me.

Take a couple more sips of coffee if you need to, because it's gonna get a little technical, but it's kind of fun to dive into this.

Because this is one of those things that people will point at and say the Bible has contradictions, and they'll point particularly to this issue because this is um um it's just one of those things that unless you really dig into it, it doesn't quite make sense at the first pass-through.

So we have four authors of the Gospels, Holy Spirit inspiring each one of them, writing from four different perspectives and for four different purposes.

And these aren't contradictions that we're seeing.

A lot of the times what we're looking at when somebody says the Bible has contradictions is we're looking at history being told in a way that Americans, most Americans don't like, myself included.

I like chronological order.

We're obsessed with time, it seems to be, but that's not how they did it back then.

So I want to address this.

Now, the three other gospel writers have Peter's denial happening at Caiaphas's place.

And if you just read John all by itself through, John's account on the first pass, you would assume that verses 15 through 24 that we have here in John 18, you would assume that they all took place in Annas' courtyard at his house.

Um, so that there's a whole nother sixth trial going on that we don't see in the other gospels.

Because John, look at verse 13.

It says, first they led him to Annas.

He's the only gospel author to mention that.

Now, real quick, look down at verse 24.

It says, Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

So it's actually really easy to look at this and to think that all of this section took place at Annas' place.

So it's easy to think that, and then Annas sent him to Caiaphas bound.

The word then here, you know, it makes you think that we're looking at something in chronological order, doesn't it?

But this word is largely not a chronological word in the Greek.

The King James translation actually puts this same verse, verse 24, it says this.

Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.

You see, the word then, it's also translated a lot of different ways other than then.

It's therefore, so, and now, as you know, as we just saw in the King James Version.

Uh wherefore, but so there's a lot of different ways to translate that word.

And I want us to look at the definition of this Greek word then.

It says, then, that's the word we're dealing with, therefore, accordingly, consequently, these things being so.

So there's a lot of different ways that this word is used.

All that to say, we shouldn't assume chronology.

We shouldn't look at this and think like, and then Annas sent him to Caiaphas.

Um, but maybe more along the lines of these things being so, Annas had sent Jesus bound to Caiaphas.

I know it's getting technical, but hang in there with me.

But this explanation actually makes the most sense to me personally because it lines up with the other three Gospels if we're trying to get this into chronological order.

So, my personal opinion is that John is just letting us know that they stopped at Annas' house.

There's no more detail.

Um, and then when Jesus was struck in the face, um that John's just letting the audience know that Jesus is still bound at that point because that's how he was sent by Annas to Caiaphas.

Um I think it's just including the fact that Jesus was being abused and he was bound at that place during an illegal trial before he was proven guilty.

So that's where I'm coming from when we teach this, but feel free to disagree.

It's okay.

We can still be friends, we can still go to church together.

This is a minor little subnote.

But I only wanted to mention all of that because when critics point to contradictions, when you dig a little deeper, there's usually an explanation.

A lot of times it has to do with how history was told in the Jewish faith or in Israel at this time.

And probably the most important thing is if we have the view and we strongly hold that it was five trials, or we strongly hold that it was six trials, it doesn't change anything in our doctrine or even in our theology.

It only changes the timeline of what's going on here.

So, anyway, I just wanted to point that out before we jumped in today.

But for our text today, as we jump in, we left off last week with Jesus being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.

There was this large delegation that was sent out, several hundred people, um sent out by the religious leaders, to arrest Jesus in the manner as if he was this violent criminal.

And through that whole interaction in the beginning of chapter 18, we saw that Jesus was in control of the whole situation, and we saw that Jesus was willingly going to the cross.

He was not being forced.

We saw that he demonstrated his power, if you remember, and the fact that he is God simply by saying, I am.

And then this whole delegation was literally knocked back, knocked off of their feet when he simply uttered his powerful name.

And then in the other gospels, we see that between verses 14 and 15 here, where we're just jumping in this morning, that his disciples scattered at that point.

Mark says they all deserted him and ran away.

But we're going to see here in verse 15 that after scattering, two of his disciples followed at a distance to see where they were taking Jesus.

And that's right where we pick up right here in verse 15.

So look at that with me.

Simon Peter was following Jesus as was another disciple.

Now it's mostly agreed upon that this is most likely John, our author that's writing this, that was with Peter.

And we've seen many times he doesn't like to mention his own name or himself in this gospel.

He usually says the one that Jesus loved instead of using his own name.

And John is thought to have had some ties to the high priest.

Probably, you know, why he could name the high priest servant Malchus that we saw last week, probably how he gets into the courtyard in the first place, and how this servant girl knows him, and how he knows who the relative of Malchus is, who we see in our text today.

So Peter and most likely John are following at a distance.

And somehow John was able to walk through all of this without denying Jesus.

But Peter, in the almost exact same situation, couldn't walk through this without sinning.

You know, there's a whole sermon in there for another day about Christian liberty, but that's going to be for another time.

So let's look at the second half of verse 15.

It says, That disciple, so presumably John, was an acquaintance of the high priest.

So he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard.

So either through social connections or family connections, maybe even business connections through his dad's fishing business, John has ties with the high priest.

He's known even to the high priest's servants, as we see as well.

Verse 16.

But Peter remained standing outside by the door.

So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the girl who was the doorkeeper and brought Peter in.

Then the servant girl, who was the doorkeeper, said to Peter, You aren't one of this man's disciples, too, are you?

I am not, he said.

So the phrasing here of this girl, I think, is very interesting.

It's in the negative.

You're not one of those Jesus freaks like John here, are you?

That's my interpretation.

To which Peter simply says, I am not.

He starts off slow.

He starts off low-key, kind of like, no, I don't even know what you're talking about.

You know, he starts off kind of like that.

Peter's first denial, that's what we're looking at, the first denial that Jesus had already predicted.

So in the Garden of Gethsemane, Matthew records that Jesus told Peter to pray so that he didn't fall into temptation.

And I want to read that passage to you.

It says, Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.

He asked Peter, So couldn't you stay awake with me one hour?

Stay awake and pray so that you won't enter into temptation.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Yet Peter kept falling asleep, didn't he?

So did James and John, our author.

The three of them, they just could not stay awake.

All while Jesus was agonizing in prayer with the Father, asking if this cup, the cup of God's wrath towards sin, could be removed from him.

And I just want to take a moment to compare and contrast Jesus and Peter in this moment.

Peter was physically and spiritually sleeping.

Jesus was physically and spiritually pleading with God from his heart while submitting his spirit and his flesh to God.

When he said, Yet not my will, but your will be done.

Think about what Jesus did here.

Jesus succeeds in every way spiritually while completely sacrificing his flesh.

Conversely, Peter fails horribly spiritually, but allowed his flesh to rest.

He was feeding his flesh by going to sleep instead of praying as Jesus directed him to.

And as a result of his actions, Peter denies Jesus.

And as a result of Jesus' actions, Jesus saves mankind.

Quite the difference when we compare and contrast those two, isn't it?

Look at verse 18.

Now the servants and the officials had made a charcoal fire because it was cold.

They were standing there warming themselves, and Peter was standing with them, warming himself.

Sure seems like Peter is trying to blend in here, does it?

You know, blend in with the crowd, with the blend in with the world at this point.

Jesus, just hours earlier at this point, told Peter and the rest of the disciples, the world is going to hate you, and you're going to have trouble in this world.

But here's Peter, and he's not ready for that yet.

After the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, he will be.

But that hasn't happened yet for Peter.

So Peter's still trying to blend in.

He's trying to go unnoticed as a follower of Christ.

And once again, what do we see here?

He's serving his flesh.

He's being warmed by this fire.

And don't get me wrong, sleep is good, being warm is good, but those should be things that we're willing to sacrifice for the sake of God's kingdom when we're asked by God to sacrifice those things.

So don't raise your hand, but be honest with yourself here this morning, okay?

How many of you woke up to the time change this morning and thought it would be so nice to get a little more sleep?

To stay in my warm bed.

Or it'd be so nice to stay in my warm PJs under a blanket drinking a warm cup of, you know, whatever it might be, and just not go to church today.

Well, congrats.

None of you does that apply.

You all made it here this morning.

That's awesome.

But satisfying our flesh is so tempting sometimes, isn't it?

It'd be so much easier if I didn't have to do what's best for me.

Like, how often, in one day, do those thoughts go through our mind?

And we see Peter, he just keeps catering to his flesh.

So now we're gonna see a bit about this trial.

Look at verse 19.

The high priest, and whether this is Annas or Caiaphas, we don't know, but the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.

So I want us to take note of how Jesus responds in the next verse, in verse 20.

He's asked about his disciples in verse 19, but Jesus keeps reminding them of who they are after, of who is on trial.

Jesus is protecting his disciples.

And when you think about it, he's protecting Peter in the exact moment that Peter is denying him.

That's love, isn't it?

So Jesus focuses on his teaching.

Look at verse 20.

I've spoken openly to the world, Jesus answered him.

I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple where all the Jews gather, and I haven't spoken anything in secret.

Why do you question me?

This trial, as we've already talked about, it's rigged.

He knows their intent.

He knows the trial is illegal.

You know, this whole thing's taking place at night.

So he's calling out their hypocrisy.

You know, by really, I think what he's doing is contrasting what they are doing with what he has already done his whole life.

And he's not saying that he never spoke to people privately.

That's not what he's saying here.

I think what he's saying is who he is publicly is who he is privately.

Which is exactly, I think, what he desires of his disciples here today as well.

That what we do publicly is the same as what we do privately, that those two lives match.

And Jesus is willing to prove this.

Look at this to his accusers, accusers, the second half of verse 21.

He says, Question those who heard what I told them.

Look, they know what I said.

He's willing to come up and have people cross-examine him in this statement of truth that he's giving.

The enduring word commentary says this regarding this passage.

It says, in saying this, Jesus wasn't being uncooperative, only asserting his legal right.

There was to be no formal charge against the accused until witnesses had been heard and been found to be truthful.

So Jesus is saying, if we're going to do this, let's do this right.

Go ahead, like bring the witnesses in.

Let's start this thing and let's start doing it right.

And the thing is, a good number, maybe even every one of the people that's here at this night trial that's questioning him, they've heard him teach.

He's been doing it publicly for three years, and they've been trying to kill him already for a long time.

But they could never pin him down.

Every time they tried to pin him down, they could just never do it.

They didn't have a case, and they knew they didn't have a case, so they knew they had to go about this illegally in order to make it happen.

Now, if you remember in Matthew 21, 46, it says, regarding these religious leaders, it says, Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they feared the crowds because the people regarded him, Jesus, as a prophet.

The fear of man made them break their own law in secret in the cover of night.

And Jesus is just, he's like, hey, let's let's do this thing right, you know, and they don't want any part of it.

So in response to Jesus saying, Bring on the witnesses, look at verse 22.

It says, When he had said these things, one of the officials standing by slapped Jesus, saying, Is this the way you answer the high priest?

You know, when you think about this, this guy is upholding the position of high priest above God.

He's also upholding it above God's word as well.

And I think this guy that we're looking at right here, this one man, is a pretty accurate reflection of what most of Judaism had become at this point in history.

A very high view of.

Of Jewish leaders, making the law a priority over the heart, making the law a priority really over God, losing the relationship with God, losing the faith that Abraham first had and first demonstrated for them.

They had lost sight that God's law was filled with loving commands for their own good, for their own benefit, not orders to be followed from an indifferent master.

They had lost sight of all this.

This guy just literally slapped God in the face for the religion of um, how do you even say this?

For the sake of the religion that worship the God he just struck.

I mean, that ties my head into not, you know.

But he literally slapped God in the face for the sake of the religion of the God he just struck.

So he's got it all backwards, and most of Israel has it completely backwards at this point as well.

And in all of this, remember that Jesus is going to say at the end of all of this, Father, forgive them because they do not know what they're doing.

Think about this.

Jesus deeply loves the guy that just hit him in the face.

Jesus goes on, verse 23.

If I have spoken wrongly, Jesus answered him, give evidence about the wrong.

But if rightly, why do you hit me?

And the word hit here doesn't mean just like a little dainty slap, you know, to Jesus.

It's to flay, skin, to beat, thrash, smite.

So this isn't this little slap.

He's being beaten at this point.

They're physically starting to prosecute Jesus before anyone even bore witness, and before they were even close to coming to an actual verdict.

They all had a verdict in their mind, but as a trial would go, Jesus points it out that they're breaking their own law.

But look as Jesus does this, how calm he is, how measured of a response he gives.

Jesus stays in control.

We're gonna see that all the way through this.

But at the same time, he's not approving of their behavior either.

They are still sinning.

And yes, God is using their sin to carry out his purposes, but Jesus never condones what they're doing.

He never condones their sin.

So really he corners this guy.

If I have spoken wrongly, give evidence about the wrong.

But if rightly, why do you hit me?

Why are you breaking your own laws at this point?

Now, to our verse we already talked about, verse 24.

Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Again, I think John and eyewitness here is simply pointing out that Jesus is bound as he's being abused.

As the King James says, now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.

Just my opinion.

Verse 25.

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself.

They said to him, You aren't one of his disciples, too, are you?

He denied it and said, I am not.

Again, Peter is tending to his flesh.

He's being warm.

He's trying to blend into the crowd, and he denies Jesus again by saying, I am not.

And this question of Peter is the same as the first denial.

It's in the negative.

You aren't one of his disciples, too, are you?

And in Matthew's account, it says that this second time that Peter's asked this, it says that he denied with an oath and said, I don't know the man.

His denial just got worse.

It just went deeper from I don't know what you're talking about to I don't know him.

So look at the progression as he denies Jesus here.

Verse 26.

One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, Didn't I see you with him in the garden?

Peter denied it again.

Immediately a rooster crowed.

So again, Jesus is in control, and he just did one of two things here.

He either predicted the future or he made a rooster crow on cue.

He like looked at the rooster and like, you know.

I don't know which is more impressive though, that he's able to tell the future or command this rooster to crow on cue.

But he's in control.

He's proving over and over again that he is God.

And we see a bit more detail again in Matthew's account when Peter progressively denied Jesus.

The first denial in Matthew says, I don't know what you're talking about.

The second says he denied with an oath and said, I don't know the man.

But the third denial in Matthew, he gives us the detail that says, he began to curse and swear with an oath, I do not know the man.

He progressively denied Jesus from I don't know what you're talking about to vehemently and passionately denying that he ever even knew Jesus.

And it may be because this guy that asks this third time is the relative of Malchus, and this relative just saw Peter cut Malchus' ear off.

So this guy saw him commit an act of violence, could testify against Peter doing this.

He could serve as an eyewitness to convict Peter with no evidence, because Malchus still has two perfectly good ears.

But Peter could be thinking, you know, several hundred people saw me do this, and this guy can identify me by my face.

So that may be why he so passionately denies Jesus again to save his own skin at this point, to save his flesh.

And I think this is just such a great example of how sin works.

It's this slippery slope that can start off with a white lie.

You know, like, oh uh, I don't I don't understand your question.

To uh, oh uh, I I don't I don't know that guy.

To cursing and swearing with an oath, I do not know this man.

You know, sin usually starts off that way.

And if we look at Peter's progression just from the garden, he went from, I just need a little more sleep.

You know, I'm tired.

Jesus' request is a little much.

I mean, we had a long day.

I just I just need some sleep right now.

I'm just gonna go to sleep.

He went from that to fleeing the scene of Jesus' arrest.

I'm still not sure if that's sin or not, if it's actually what Jesus wanted his disciples to do as he was protecting them.

But then he went to keeping a distance from Jesus, not denying him yet, but just following from a distance.

Not sure if he wants to be associated or not.

Then he went to, oh, you know, uh, I don't understand.

I don't know what you're talking about, but this guy over here.

To uh, I I don't know him.

Finally, to cursing and swearing with an oath, I don't know the Son of God.

You know, in Luke's account, it says Jesus looked at him right after this third denial.

As he's bound there, as he's just been hit in the face.

He looks as that rooster crows, he looks right, makes eye contact with Peter.

It says uh in Luke's account, immediately while he was still speaking, as Peter was in the midst of his third denial, a rooster crowed.

Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter.

So Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.

And he went outside and wept bitterly.

And here we see in the Bible the only unforgivable sin, right?

That Peter just committed.

I mean, how could it get any worse than what Peter did?

To curse and to swear with an oath that he never even knew Jesus.

I mean, how could it be any worse than that?

There's no way Jesus could forgive Peter for this, right?

I'm being facetious.

I hope you know that.

Luke tells us a little bit earlier in his account what Jesus tells Peter back in Gethsemane.

Chapter 22, verses 31 through 32.

It says, Simon, Simon, look out.

Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.

And you, when you have turned back, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.

Jesus was ready to forgive Peter before he even committed the sin.

Jesus was already looking past Peter's sin and instructing Peter for what to do after his darkest moment.

Isn't that incredible?

We're going to get to see Jesus restore Peter here in a couple chapters, and I'm so thankful that John included that to this restoration story.

And I can't wait until we get there, but there is only one unforgivable sin.

And that is when you deny Jesus until the very end, until you die.

And that's when you have to take on the cup of God's wrath for yourself.

John 3 36, John the Baptist says about Jesus the one who believes in the Son has eternal life.

But the one who rejects the Son will not see life.

Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

Think of Judas.

Judas betrays Jesus and then he went and he hung himself.

Peter has done the unthinkable here.

He has denied ever knowing Jesus.

But he repented and he was restored and continued to follow Jesus.

And even in Peter's worst moment of rejecting Jesus, Jesus didn't reject him.

You know, I would love to know if there's instant replay in heaven, which I really hope there is.

I would love to know the expression on Jesus' face when he looks at Peter in this moment.

You know, of the rooster crowing the third time and Jesus looking at Peter.

Jesus knew this was coming.

I mean, he told Peter what was going to happen.

So it wasn't a look of surprise, like, I can't believe Peter just did that, you know.

It wasn't a look of disappointment.

You can't be disappointed when you know what's coming.

I wonder if it was a look of, okay, Peter, this is your lowest point.

But now it's over.

The worst is over, and we're only going to build from here.

This was not an unpardonable sin.

Jesus looked past it before Peter even committed it.

Judas's sin was unpardonable only because he didn't repent.

He didn't turn from that sin.

That's what repentance is, is turning away and heading the other direction.

But Peter did.

Peter repented.

He turned from that.

And I think that's really our biggest takeaway from this passage here this morning.

It doesn't matter what you've done.

Jesus still loves you and wants to save you from your sin.

You know, if you have things that keep you awake at night regarding something that you've done in the past, if you've accepted Jesus and his sacrifice for your sins, if you've allowed him to take on the cup of God's wrath for your sin, that sin is gone.

It's forgotten about by God.

And if you feel like you have to feel guilty about it from time to time because that sin was so bad, that's not from God.

That's either a lie from the enemy or that's your flesh beating you up, trying to drag you away from the love of God.

Jesus brings restoration to Peter.

He doesn't say, you know, if you feel guilty enough, Peter, then I'll forgive you.

If you beat yourself up just enough, at least once a week, then I'll forgive you.

You know, if you hang your head around other Christians in shame, then Peter, I'll forgive you.

He forgave Peter before Peter even committed that third denial.

He was already looking past it.

He said, When you have turned back, Peter, strengthen your brothers.

You know, our most shameful moments, I think our biggest regrets, are why Jesus went to the cross in the first place.

He doesn't want us living in this state of shame and regret.

But the enemy does.

He wants to paralyze us and he wants to destroy us with regret and with shame.

Jesus told them in John 10, 10 through 11, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Notice it doesn't say with the sheep.

It doesn't lay down his life with the sheep.

He lays down his life for the sheep in their place so that they can have abundant life.

You know, I've never seen somebody living in abundant life in Jesus that was filled with shame and regret.

Have you?

God casts our sin as far as the east is from the west, and he wants us to live in that freedom.

You know, if you are a believer and if you've come to faith in Jesus, guilt and shame are not from God.

Abundant life is from God.

And if you've not come to faith in Jesus, there is a tremendous freedom from guilt and shame that is waiting for you if you accept that gift of Jesus.

Jesus has taken on the cup of God's wrath for your sin and died the death that you deserve in your place to pay the debt for sin that you have accrued.

And you just have to accept the gift.

You just have to accept the payment that He's made for you.

Him taking on this cup for you.

And you simply need to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

And Scripture says you will be saved.

And you can experience that freedom from guilt and shame as He forgives you for each and every sin that you've ever committed.

And you can do that right now.

You can do that tonight.

If you had some time to think about it, you could do that tomorrow.

You can come up afterwards and talk to me or anybody else you've seen up here.

Ask us questions.

We can talk about it with you a little bit more.

Pray with you.

But you can experience that freedom from sin and the abundant life that God has for you as soon as you accept that free gift from Jesus.

Will you please pray with me?

Jesus, as we think about everything that you went through, as we're going through this trial, and seeing how you willfully took every single step, how you willfully took every single hit in the face, crown of thorns, the abuse, the whipping, the nails, the cross, is you willfully took that every step of the way.

You were doing it because you love us so much.

And you were in control every step of the way.

We thank you so much for that.

We thank you for the example of Peter.

Committing just such a heinous sin.

But seeing how you handled that with him.

Lord, that you were looking past it before he even committed it.

You were instructing him what to do after that sin before he even committed it, which I think just shows your love for each and every one of us.

And we thank you so much for the forgiveness of sin.

And that guilt and shame are not from you when we come to you, Jesus.

Those are schemes of the enemy to try and paralyze us.

We thank you that there's freedom in Christ.

And that we can experience that freedom, that we can take on your righteousness, that we can allow you to pay that debt for sin for every single shameful thing that we've ever done.

And now you've forgotten about it.

And we thank you so much that you choose to do that and that you love us that much.

Help us to live in that freedom.

Lord, if there's anybody here that has not made that decision, I pray that today would be the day of salvation.

Just wanting to live in that same freedom that you've offered each and every one of us that are following you now.

God, we love you so much, and we can never thank you enough for all that you've done and the love that you've already shown and continue to show to each one of us.

Pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.